designers in the art department Ben managed while directing high-volume, multi-SKU programs.
Case 04Archival selection / 2003–2014Creative Director / Director of Product Development
Black & White
Not one shoe.
A product world.
Licensed footwear programmes built through retail thinking: product range, visual direction, approvals, sourcing, presentation and the thousand small decisions that make a collection feel intentional.
Range directionLicensingSourcingTeam leadership
MEMORY01 : 12PLAY
Current public marks identify licensed-product experience shown in the archive. Trademarks belong to their respective owners; no current affiliation or endorsement is implied.
Commercial range, not a one-off
sales-volume growth contribution through product development, creative leadership, licensing and retailer-program support.
of SKUs conceptualized and brought to market across licensed consumer-product assortments.
Role card / 2003–2014
Creative Director / Director of Product Development
One range. Three realities.
Ben led a four-person art department, directed thousands of licensed SKUs and contributed to threefold sales-volume growth by connecting creative direction to the realities of production and retail.
- 01TEAM → RANGE
Direct the product world
Align designers around silhouettes, characters, colour, age groups and a coherent multi-SKU assortment.
- 02RANGE → FACTORY
Make direction buildable
Carry approvals into materials, construction, sourcing, timing and quality conversations with factories in China.
- 03FACTORY → RETAIL
Make the range legible
Turn product breadth into buyer-ready presentations for licensors and customer headquarters across North America.
THREE decisions. ONE coherent product story.
Product range / selected archive
Character is the hook. Assortment is the system.
More than the hero product
Different age groups, silhouettes and price points. One visual language.
Archive annotations / continuous loop
What these boards prove.
One bright, fast-moving argument: build the range, protect the read and make the creative direction travel.
SONY
01 / RANGENOT A
HERO SKU.
HERO SKU.
ONE CHARACTER.
A WHOLE COLLECTION.
02 / READSEE IT
AT SHELF.
AT SHELF.
RECOGNIZABLE FROM
PRODUCT TO PACKAGE.
03 / HANDOFFMAKE THE
IDEA TRAVEL.
IDEA TRAVEL.
STUDIO → LICENSOR →
FACTORY → BUYER
THE PROOFFUN
BECOMES
REAL.
BECOMES
REAL.
CREATIVE DIRECTION
BUILT FOR BUSINESS.
The operating loop
Make it fun.
Make it real.
Creative direction had to travel well—from a four-person studio through approvals, factories, buyer meetings and finally onto the shelf.
- 01Montreal
Range planning, visual direction and team critique.
- 02CA / NY
Licensor standards, samples and approval rounds.
- 03China
Materials, construction, timing and quality.
- 04North America
Customer HQs, retail story and delivery.
From brief to buyer
The real deliverable was a system that could survive the room.
- 01THE BRIEF
Find the visual hook
Decode character, audience, retailer and price point into one clear creative proposition.
- 02THE RANGE
Build the product world
Turn the hook into silhouettes, materials, colour and a coherent multi-SKU assortment.
- 03THE HANDOFF
Make direction travel
Create approval-ready evidence licensors and factories can understand without losing the idea.
- 04THE BUILD
Protect the physical read
Guide construction, quality, timing and recognizability as artwork becomes product.
- 05THE BUYER
Make the range obvious
Stage a buyer-ready retail story that makes breadth, logic and commercial value visible at a glance.
Licensed artwork is shown as historical portfolio context only. All marks remain property of their respective owners; no current affiliation or endorsement is implied.
Archive close
Footwear that could carry a character—and a whole business behind it.
